Just another cage
by impureevilregal
Summary: All her life she had been caged. The only difference is that this one is more worldly. A story of hope and redemption. It all starts and ends with a woman known by all as the evil queen.
1. Prologue

All her life she had been caged. First by her mother. She told her that the only way to be free was power. Then she was trapped by her husband the king. Then by her need for revenge. She thought only of being able to kill snow white. Only of being able to find happiness. Then her cage was the magic she claimed she had control over. The magic she thought would give her what she needed. But she was wrong. The magic controlled her. Every day it drained a little bit more of her goodness out of her. Until she was left with nothing. Always left with nothing. Then she was trapped by her own curse. Trapped by her need to have love. She was all alone in this world. Next she was trapped by an accusal of murder. She was innocent but nobody believed her. So with this sad story this broken woman we begin our story. The story of a woman who's life is fraught with peril. Her name feared by many. Although she is known by a name far more sinister. The evil queen. This to is her cage. She was queen yes. But she was not evil. Her life nothing more than a spiral of mistakes. But her essence, her core if you will, that was not evil. She never was evil. Yes she did evil deeds, her heart became tainted by that darkness that takes over from within. Her life a void of nothingness that cant be filled. But her truest self, beneath all the sorrow and all the pain, that is not evil. So many times people ask her to help them, but how can she if she can not even help herself. She is broken yet she doesn't act like it, her mask can fool even the best at detecting lies. Her spirit is stronger than it may appear. She is willing to endure anything in the hopes that one day, she may be able to receive happiness at last. So our tale begins, and maybe ends, with this woman. She is trapped yet again the only difference is that you can actually see this cage. This is the story of the woman broken beyond repair, yet still fights for love. The story of finding hope no matter what. The story of Regina Mills.

A/N: My first story. I promise the chapters wont always be so short. I created the account literally moments ago and I had to write a story as soon as possible. No I do not own once upon a time. I think it holds promise for a story I started and wrote the first chapter of in mere minutes. Hope you enjoyed and please review.


	2. I'm not free

The only thing between me and my worst enemy was a set of bars marking the fine line between freedom and imprisonment. I've been caged before, and every single time I have hated it with every ounce of my being. I have hated the thought that while others are free and happy I am trappped, my every move controlled and regulated. Yet here I am still trapped in a cage. It always comes back to the cage. So I stand there acting as if she isn't there, I am just staring at the wall while she looks intently at me. Finally she breaks the silence.

"Regina please, just understand. You have done bad, evil even, things. No matter how hard you try you can't deny it. You wouldn't take the claims you are making on face value alone. There is no way of knowing that you have truly changed."

I try so hard not to react, to not let her know of my weakness. Because if you have weaknesses then people can exploit them. But as always she keeps on talking.

" Henry knows you're trying to change Regina. We just need you to stay here until we know you really are trying to change."

I take a deep breath and count silently to ten in my head. Don't react I tell myself. If you do something rash then they'll never let you out. But she keeps on talking, taking no care for my feelings.

"You know how it is Regina. This is for your own protection."

That was it. I snapped.

"OH SO CONTINUE ACTING LIKE THE GOOD GUY WHY DON'T YOU? WHY DON'T YOU CONTINUE LORDING OVER THE REST OF US LIKE THERE IS NO CARE IN THE WORLD?"

Oh dear. This will be quite hard to get out of won't it?

I just continue to stand there standing in the deafening silence. Then I start to hear it. Sobbing noises coming from Snow White.

Now you have to understand, I was quite upset already. The sobbing at the fact that I said something so small and insignificant as that made me lose it even more. I feel little shame at what I did then.

" You are worth nothing Snow white. You are nothing more than a little girl who looks pretty and gets what she wants. You have felt nothing compared to the pain I feel every single day. You are nothing compared to me. I feel no regret in saying that I hate you."

That cage was enough. I felt as if I would die if I stayed in there any longer. But I had to. Only then would Henry completely allow me to be near him and not fight me. Maybe if I endure this he won't hate me any more. Maybe if I stay in here just a little longer he'll love me like he used to. Of course deep down I know he will never love me like before. I am not his _true mother._ No its Miss Swan to him. She did nothing for him. She cared so little for him that she gave him away yet he still goes back to her at the first chance he gets.

Why do I love him anyways. Maybe mother was right. Maybe love really is weakness. Whenever I love all that happens is pain. I loved Daniel but he died. I tried so hard to be able to forget him, to be able to finally let go of him but I couldn't. I loved my father but revenge had consumed me even more. Now he's gone. If I hadn't loved him this wouldn't matter. I think I might have even loved my mother. She may have caused me all that pain but the fact remains, she wanted to help me. But now she's gone. Finally, though my heart was hesitant I tried to love again. I tried to love my son but he rejected me. He wouldn't love me. I am evil he says. He thinks I will hurt him.

How childish all of their definitions of good and evil are. They think the world is black and white. Have they ever thought that maybe there is a little grey in the middle as well? That maybe just because they aren't saints it doesn't mean they are evil.

I turn around and when I look back snow white is gone. Good. I don't want her to see me like this. Now she is the one with all the power. All my wishes don't matter. They are meaningless. But the fact remains. We will always be enemies.

A/N So another chapter you know that you could actually type an entire document in the copy paste box? Well that's what I did. It is very hard to write a chapter on a kindle fire. But I figured that I might as well celebrate. Oh and I do not own once upon a time. Unless of course dreams really do come true. Then again if they did I would have Regina at my house in full evil queen attire. So did you love it? Hate it? Think it needs a bit of work? Then tell me in a review. They give me the warm and fuzzies that allow me to cope for eight hours of math and stupidity a day.

**Serendipity:** Thanks so much! Your story she's falling from grace actually gave me a couple idea's for this chapter. I am a little dry on idea's right now but i'm hoping that volunteering at the easter egg extraveganza might give me a couple ideas for fluff. I'm not very good at it though so we'll see.


	3. Break the cage

For a week i`ve been trapped in here. Still in this cage. Not once has Henry come. Not once have I seen him. I don't know why I bother. He doesn't love me anymore I try so hard in the hopes that one day henry will love me like he used to. That he might call me his mom again. Of course I know that its all Just wishful thinking.

Henry is infatuated with heroes. He believes in such arbritary terms as good and evil. Acting as if they are the only thing that matters. I will accept that from him. He is only a child. Thats his whole world. But the others are adults and they still believe it to be true. If the world was so black and white then I wouldn't be in here. I wouldn't love Henry either.

But yet they still trap me in this cage. I have the power yet I give it up. Sometimes I wonder why I still have my heart. I should give it up. My mother did. it worked okay for her.

Maybe I should break out. Either way Henry will still hate me. Maybe this way I might gain a little more freedom. Yes I think I will break out. My magic still works. I can still win this battle. I will get my son back if it's the last thing I do.

LINE BREAK

A week later.

I've done it. I broke out. The freedom feels so good. The ability to walk where I want to feels so good. I don't care about what Henry thinks about me. Either way I am getting him back. He will be mine again. No matter what the price is he will be my son again.

I will kill the entire town if it means I can have him. I will rip out his heart if it will bring him to me. I need him to be mine. That is the only thing that will make it worth living this life. Make it worth being who I am. I need that. Its the only thing that makes my life worthwhile. Without him I will die.

They can accuse my of all the crimes they want. It doesn't matter. None of them matter. I am free freedom matters. They are all beneath me. I am free now. I enjoy freedom.

A/N Easter egg extravaganza was brilliant. It did indeed inspire some fluff. I will be uploading sometime in the near future. Please review. It means so much to me. Tenth reviewer gets a free story of their choice. In pokemon once or harry potter.


	4. These chains still on me

I am still not free. I realized this when I got to my house and realized that I cant go anywhere. I cant do anything. I am still trapped in this house, still trapped in this cage. I am not free. These chains are still with me. They are holding on tight. I don't think they will ever let me go. My mother told me that power is freedom but she was wrong. It causes pain, it doesn't heal your wounds.

Because I am still in this cage it is still holding me fast. I don't think I will ever be free from these chains. I am imprisoned by my inability to let go. Trapped by all the pain I have caused. All of my life has been a cage. I don't think I have ever tasted freedom. I might have once long ago. With Daniel.

I think that being with him was freedom. That letting him heal me was freeing me. Then he died. That cage closed upon me again. I wish for peace. If I could just have peace in my life I think I would be happy. I am not sure though as I have never had peace in my life before. I am not sure if I ever will. For all I know things greater than I have decided it all. I might be merely a pawn in their game.

After peace I think I would wish for love. That would make me even happier. I want only love. That would make me even happier. I used to have love. I used to have true love. That gave me peace, and that gave me freedom. I would do anything to get back to those days. I would give anything to go back to that time, the time when my true love was still alive. I think I would even give up Henry to be with Daniel again. To be that woman who I used to be. That would be the best thing in life that has ever happened to me.

Finally the thing I wish for above all would be acceptance. The thought that anybody could accept me for who I truly am. That would be enough for me. If I could be accepted for all the things in my life, both good and bad that would give me eternal bliss. It would give me true happiness. If I could be accepted that would be enough for all things in my life to be completed once more.

Snow White has done bad things. She has done things just as evil as I have. Yet the people still love her. Because I attacked her first. It doesn't matter who does what. All that matters is who started it and why. If only I could expose to the whole world who she truly is. Maybe then I could have acceptance.

I wonder how she would react had the roles been reversed. If I was the little girl who she saved on a horse. If I was the one who betrayed her trust, ending up killing her true love. I wonder how she would react if she had a mother like mine. Who was so controlling that she was willing to kill for power. One who never really cared about her daughter.

She wouldn't have been able to survive it. My spirit is stronger than hers. She gets everything she wants just by being pretty, while I have to work so hard for just one single victory. Even then the victory is short lived. She always ruins it. She can't accept the fact that maybe I will win for once that maybe I deserve some small bit of happiness.

She is the one who put those chains on me. She is the one who still holds on to them. She is the one who can't face the fact that I might get my happiness. She is the one who will pay for what she did.

Regina's happy ending Regina's happy ending Regina's happy ending

Snow White's point of view

She's gone. I knew she would be. I could just tell by the way she was acting. She could have freedom if she was just willing to wait. But then again my stepmother never was very patient. I'll just have to capture her again. I don't want to hurt her. I don't want her to die either. All I want is safety for everyone, and as long as she is free somebody won't be safe.

I don't want to hurt her. But I can't let her hurt others. At least if she is in that cell then she is still alive.

I don't want her to die. I know I should after all that she has done but I can't let her. She used to be so good and so kind that I have to wonder, what if there is some of that woman left inside? Maybe just maybe somewhere in her heart there is some part of her that is willing to change her ways. Maybe she really does have some regrets. I know that she told me that she regrets nothing. That she would gladly do it all again but somehow I don't think that is true. I believe that deep down she truly still has a heart and is willing to change. If nothing else than for her son. That she is willing to change for Henry.

I know that I am not innocent in this battle. I know that I have done awful things. But some of them had to be done. I had to kill Cora or she would kill me. She might have even killed Henry. Daniel was innocent I admit to that but I didn't know what I was doing.

She once told me that not having somebody is the worst curse imaginable. She's right. I don't have her by me. I don't have a chance for forgiveness in her eyes anymore. She thinks that she is the loser when in reality it is the other way around. I am the one that has lost. I have lost it all.

I wonder how she feels now that she is truly all alone. She must feel that she has really lost it all. That she has lost all chance at redemption that she has no hope for a new life.

Though she wouldn't believe it if she ever heard it I am truly repentant for what I have done. I truly feel sorry for all the pain I have caused. But she won't forgive me. Why would she. I have hurt her beyond the point of breaking. She was already a fragile piece of glass when I met her. Now she is even worse. I broke her completely. Her soul was darkened by my mistake. She thinks she is caged. I know she does. But in reality those chains are on me. They have been since Daniel died.

I have to capture her. I have no choice. These chains trap more than me. They trap her to. Soon both literally and metaphorically.

A/N I am loving the reaction to this story. Two followers. This is kind of sad but that means the world to me. So anyhow ONCE IS ON TONIGHT. Wow. Now I am sad. They are going to torture Regina again aren't they. I don't want them to torture Regina. That makes me sad. Sad me only writes more angsty stories. I promise that the day they give Regina her happy ending is the day I write a humor story. In fact I promise that. So review and tell me what you think? I am now accepting writing prompts. Just no romance or humor please. I may write it in the form of a poem as I am more of a poet than an author. So thanks for reading. Hope you liked it and sorry for any mistakes you may have found. Just let me know and I'll fix said mistake. So yeah. Again review please. :;)


	5. No safety here

I know something is wrong. I can just feel it. They are going to try again. They are going to try to capture me again. Last time I went willingly. Its not happening this time.

I will not allow myself to be caged. I will not, can not let that happen to me again. I am not going to be held back captured like that.

If I was I think I wopuld die. My freedom is more important to me than anything else. I need a way to make sure nobody else can get in. A protection spell. Only I can get through it. Hentry to I think.

Hair. Both of our hair.I can make a protection spell. Only we can get through. Henry is more important to me that I am to myself. If I die it will to make sure Henry is safe. If I have to die to achieve that then so be it.

If I have to use magic to get him back I will use it. I will do anything to have him with me. I would give anything to make sure he is happy.

Snow's POV

Our plan is formed. We are going to invade her house and have the blue fairy disable her magic. I don't want to hurt her but after everything she has done, I have no choice.

Regina is going to try something though. I just know she is. She wants Henry and she will do anything to get him.

I wonder how she will feel when she loses again. When she loses to me again.

I know she wants to win. But she never will. Not until the day she finally becomes good. Not until the day she finally changes.

Every time I see her she has more pain in her eyes. She wants to win I know she does but she can't.

She keeps on failing. She keeps on falling farther and farther to the ground.

_I don't want her to fall. _

All I want is her to be safe. All I want is for everybody to be safe. I will do anything to achieve that. I will do anything in my power to make sure that nobody is hurt again.

But Regina hurt people. She will be hurt if this doesn't happen. I don't want her to be hurt. All I want is for her to be happy.

But it was all her fault.

Every death. Every wound. Every heart ache. It was all her fault. For that she needs to be punished. I AM locking her up.

A/N Short chapter I know. I have the next one already written just not enough time to write it. So what do you think? Hey I know! Tell me in a review!


	6. The trap

Snow White POV

The plan has been set in motion. Tonight Henry is going to take the enchanted handcuffs and go to Regina's house. He will say he wants to spend time with her. That isn't even a lie. Not really. Henry wants to spend time with Regina. He just doesn't know if it's right to. He is afraid that if he does then she might be his mother again. But that doesn't matter. He has no choice right now. So after that when Regina goes to sleep he is going to use the handcuffs and fairy dust on her. It will undo the protection spell on the house. Then Rumplestiltskin can reverse the spell so she is trapped inside the house. This might actually be good for my stepmother. If she is removed from magic she might be able to become good again. She might be able to become that woman who saved my life all those years ago. She could forget all about her mother and the evil that she became.

But it isn't that simple. It is never simple. There is no way to make her truly forget. All she can do is bury all of the magic. She can't forget it though. It's part of her now. If only there was some way to remove magic from here. That would make things so much better. It would help us so much. We can't though. Magic is part of this land now. This land is no longer the land without magic. On the contrary. It is a land **with ** magic.

Henry POV

How am I going to do this? They expect me to capture my mom. They want me to pretend to want to see her and then take away all of her power. How can I hurt my mom like this? It will crush her. I've only seen her sad once and I never want to see her like that again. She is so strong that she never shows any emotion. She never shows any of what she would call weakness. I could never crush my mom like this. I could never forgive myself. Doing this would be just as bad as killing her. I don't want to hurt her. But what am I supposed to do? I have no choice but to follow the plan. If I don't then who know's what will happen to her? I don't want her to die. But doing this will be just as bad.

Why did she do this to herself? She basically doomed herself the minute she opened that door. Why oh why did she have to be so impatient? I wanted her to redeem herself and then she does this! Why do I care about her anyways? She's the evil queen! She cursed the entire realm! Why do I care about her? Why do I love her so much? I should be glad this is happening to her. But all I feel is sorrow that she ended up dooming herself to something so sad.

If only I could make her feel better with a kiss on the cheek like I used to be able to. If only I could heal all her pain. But I can't. All I can do is hurt her more. I can't help her. She only want's me but she can't help me. My very existence is causing her pain. Why did this have to happen? Why did Cora have to ruin her like this?

Regina POV

My son has finally come back to me. I have my son back. But he isn't leaving me this time. I will hold on as tight as necessary to keep him here with me. I will fight with all my strengh to keep him here. I need him with me. Without him I have nothing.

Nothing doesn't feel very good.

Feeling nothing makes for a very poor state of sanity. Of course mine has been slipping for as long as I can remember.

Either way it doesn't matter. I will keep my son here with me by any means necessary.

After Dinner

Henry has decided to stay the night with me. I'm so glad. Maybe he can be mine again without magic. That would make me happy. I don't want to have to use magic to keep my son with me. I will though. I will keep him with me by any means necessary. But I don't want to hurt him. I want him to be here willingly. But I will keep him here with anything I have. Because if I don't have him my life is so empty that I have nothing.

I kiss Henry on the head like I used to. Before SHE came. Before his REAL mom came and ruined everything. It doesn't matter. He is still my son. He will always be my son. I decide to go to bed early as it has been a long and eventful day.

Henry POV

Around midnight I sneak out of bed and slowly creep to my mom's room. When I get there she's in bed. I heave a sigh of relief. It will be nearly impossible to accidently wake her up. She isn't exactly a light sleeper. Apparently evil queen's have no cause to be.

I slowly move her hands back and put them in the handcuffs. Then I chain those handcuffs to her headboard. I take out the ball of fairy dust and sprinkle it over her. Now she can't use magic. She is trapped. This should be a good thing but I feel so bad about it. I slowly walk out of the room after stealing one last glance at her. She looks so peaceful. Like she couldn't hurt anything. I feel a pang of guilt about what I did. While I know it's not true I feel so, so bad about it. She trusted me and I betrayed that trust. How can I stand to even look at her?

Neutral POV

An eerie silence settled over the mills household. Rumplestiltskin cast a spell under his breathe. Now Regina was trapped. Her house became a cage like his back in the old land. He smiled. It looked like she would pay for hurting Belle after all.

Authors note So the villian is revealed! Now I do not own once upon a time. I only own any mistakes you find here and my plotline. I apologize for making you wait so long. Hopefully next wait will not be so long. I make no promises however as my muses control me. I do not control them. Or when they go on vacations to Japan. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter. reviewing might make my muses want to write faster. And they make my day. Because I have no clue where this is going next and inspiration is apreciated.


	7. Back to this

Regina POV

I woke up quite happy about Henry back. That is, before I tried to move my arms. I get nothing but a sharp jab in my wrist. Handcuffs. They used Handcuffs on me. They knew my weakness and they exploited it. They used my son to capture me. d he willingly went along with it. The choice was his and he chose them. I was right. Henry really does hate me. How could I think for one small moment that my son could possibly love me? I try to use magic only to find that I can't. They took that away from me to. They took everything away from do I even keep on trying when I know something like this will always happen? All I will get is a hole in my heart.

Just then the door opens. In comes the oh so saintly snow white

"Regina" she begins in her grating voice.

I throw my best glare at her at least as well as I can while chained up like this.

"Don't give me that look we had no choice."

Yes you did. But you chose to lock me up. You chose this fate and when I get out she will pay. She did this to me. Has she ever thought that maybe I don't want to hurt them? All I want is to be happy. Wat about that is so hard to understand? '

"I brought food" She says.

As if that will make it all okay.

,"Well dear I might eat it. However that might be rather difficult as my hands are chained behind my back."

"Oh, right was all she had to say.

Slowly she closes the door and leaves me locked here in this room. Of course. I'm her prisoner. She once again has control over me. Well this time it is going to be different.

I pull against the cuffs as much force as I can muster to no avail. I try again and again.

I am not going to let them control me like this.

Slowly but surely I keep on tugging. A trickle of blood starts to form on my wrists. Then it happens. I hear a loud cracking noise.

Great. I broke my wrist. This is turning out to be such a fun day. I tug again.

That was not a good move.

I scream.

Seconds later I hear footsteps come running up the stairs.

"Mom what did you do?"

AN short? Yes. cliffie? Yes. Review anyways?

Theifqueen: Sorry but I don't want any romantic pairings in this fic. I have nothing against it I just hate romance. Period.


	8. Under my skin

"Henry" I begin, unsure of how to tell him. Unsure of how to tell him that my stubbornness caused me to break my wrist.

Of course he's the one who locked me up in the first place.

I don't care. It's still Henry. It's still my son. No matter how hard i try, I can't bring myself to be mad at him. He doesn't want me hurt. I can see it in his eyes, clear as day. I can see the tears welling up in them.

He really does care about me.

"I hurt my wrist Henry. It's no big deal," I say. If only I could convince myself that it's no big deal. But it isn't. It is a big deal because I am stuck. Now I can't even give myself the illusion of trying to escape.

He looks at me with his sweet innocent eyes and says " You tried to escape didn't you?"

"Henry, please, it's not that simple."

"Then what is it," he demanded.

Great. I don't want to disappoint Henry but I don't want to let him know about all of the pain.

He is going to stay innocent as long as I can keep him innocent. He can call me evil all he wants, it won't change anything. I'm not going to let Henry be ruined like that. Like I was.

"Yes, Henry, I tried to escape. Being trapped generally brings up bad memories."

He nods as if he understands.

Bad memories. As if everything I have endured can just be called bad memories. Being forced to marry a king who didn't love me, who could have me killed on a whim. Nothing more than being a glorified Nanny. Just a bad memory. Locked in a jail cell, about to be executed, the fact that I would die because of love. Just a bad memory.

Henry looks closely at my hands, his eyes widening in horror when he sees the blood, even more so when he realizes that my wrist is broken.

"Mom your hurt."

"It will heal."

Wounds always do. You just need to pick up the pieces. If you try hard enough maybe you can make yourself believe it was all a dream.

"I'm going to get she can fix it" says Henry.

He leaves the room shutting the door behind him.

Henry's so naive and so innocent. He believes that if you try hard enough you can fix any problem. If only it were that simple. I get my hopes up again only to have them crushed. Because that's how life works. Some people aren't ment to have a happy ending.

The door opens and in comes Henry, bringing her with him.

Snow white, the person who had the honor of breaking me.

She looks at my arms, her eyes widen in terror. But she isn't surprised. She probably knew I would try to escape.

Of course she would. She has watched me trapped enough to know that.

"Henry why don't you go watch some t.v.."

"Okay" he said, glancing at Regina one more time before he exits the room.

"Was this really necessary Regina?"

"Well, as you of all people should know, I'm not a big fan of being locked up."

"We didn't exactly have a choice Regina"

"Just keep telling yourself that."

"I think we can do with just locking the door as you manages to incapacitate yourself," she said, ignoring my last comment.

"Of course. It's your choice, as you seemed tl think it's a good idea to manipulate my son into locking me in my own house then do it. See if I care."

She gently takes the cuffs off of my wrists and washes off the blood. I just remain silent, thinking. I look down a couple minutes later and see them clean and banaged My wrist has a sling on it.

So the torture begins.

A/N so what do you think? Is it good, is it bad? Also I am now accepting prompts for one shots or similar. Jhst let me know and I will get right on it. Review and possibly save me from tears after tonight's episode.


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